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Tal'Dani
The Tal'Dani are a small insectoid race living on the Ringworld of Gilmar. They are an offshoot of a much larger Tal'Dani nation which is unknown in Verion and even in most of Ceros. They bear a striking similarity to the ants of Earth in terms of appearance and social structure. Appearance Tal'Dani are organized into five seperate castes. Workers, Soldiers, Nobles, Queens and Hive Queens. They all look incredibly similar physically, most of their difference being in exoskeleton colour. Workers stand about 3'8". Worker height can vary between the Queen that bore them, with Hive Queens producing Workers that stand about 4'1"-4'2" and regular Queens producing Workers that stand 3'6"-3'8". They are quadpedal, standing upright with their thorax split into two with a joint that allows them to use their front 'legs' as hands. All of their legs have three digits, a long thumb and two long toes. This allows every limb of a worker to be used as a manipulator if needed. Workers have a dark red-brownish exoskeleton which is strong enough to protect them in their duties. Soldiers stand about 4'4", with the same height discrepancies between Queens and Hive Queens. They have a very similar appearance to Workers but they have a black exoskeleton which is notably stronger than a Worker's, able to shrug off low-end small arms (Handgun) fire. Nobles have a large height variation as they are the first caste that are individuals with personalities. Nobles usually stand about 4' to 4'10". Their exoskeletons are colours between dull orange-browns to the black of soldiers. Queens stand about 6' and have a orange-red carapace along with large wings in order to enable flight among them when they begin their own Hive. Their abdomen is usually larger than other Castes due to the eggs inside of them, which are produced at a rate that a Queen can manipulate inside of a Queen's body. Hive Queens are the largest caste and are special as they are a metamorphasized Queen. They stand between 8'8" to 10'4", with the largest Hive Queen of any Tal'Dani Hive-Nation being 18'9" in size. They have a large abdomen and have the largest control over their egg production, being able to choose what eggs to lay and they are able to shut down production if they so choose. Society Tal'Dani society is controlled by the Nobility and Queens. Queens and Hive Queen are capable of exercizing direct control over every single one of their workers and soldiers, having large brain capabilities in order to manage the large amounts of multitasking required for this. Workers and Soldiers usually have enough brain capability to be issued a broad order and work together with other workers in order to acheve what their Queen wants, a Noble or the Queen coming in in order to work with more complex goals. Nobles tend to act as scientists, commanders, artists and other specialty roles which require individuality in order to acheve. They have an elevated ESPER level and with a Queen's manipulation of a Worker or Soldier's mental state, they are able to directly command and control Workers and Soldiers even at their lower ESPER levels. Hives are notoriously loyal to ther Queen, willing to fight to the death to protect the individual who bore them. Queens and Hive Queens hold onto the idea of a free Hive, displaying willingness to sacrifice thousands if not millions of Workers and Soldiers in order to preserve the political sovereignty of a Hive. The castes are hard-wired into Tal'Dani society biologically. Workers and Soldiers do not have the mental capability or psionic capabilities to act as Nobles, preventing them from moving up in social class. Noble females are sterile which prevents them from breaking away and forming their own Hives, and Noble males have their breeding with Queens strictly controlled in order to prevent the degredation of Hive bloodlines. Biology Workers and Soldiers tend to reach maturity around 8 months to 1 year old, living to around the age of 12 years old with death from old age at an age as young as five not unheard of. Nobles are much longer lived, the Nobility living 50-60 years. Queens and Hive Queens live the longest however, Queens easily reaching 100-140 years and Hive Queens reaching 240 years or older. Tal'Dani display large amounts of teamwork, easily able to coordinate efforts due to their natural base ESPER level of 2, and outside command by Nobles and Queens. Large construction projects are able to have many times the workers that other species are able to put onto them due to the natural abilities for Tal'Dani to cooperate and coordinate their actions, and ship crews are able to operate at higher efficency levels due to telepathic communications. Birth rates are extremely high, as Queens are able to produce up to 300 eggs per day, with Queens being able to lay as few as 30 per day, and Hive Queens are able to lay up to 500 eggs per day.